The Rule of Four
by Dustin Thomason, Ian Caldwell
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Book Reviews of The Rule of Four
Book Review: Could have been great...
Summary: 3 Stars
The premise of this book was very engaging early on. An old text that have so many clues and riddles in it, it could only mean one thing - treasure. And the authors have created a story that's not your typical treasure hunt (a la Da Vinci Code). They have weaved personality, back stories, and real emotions into their characters. You feel as if you are really living the story with them. And there lies the problem - when a book is so engrossing, to the point where the reader empathizes with the characters, you have to make sure you treat the relationships with respect. But the authors seem to have forgotten that and shifted their focus towards the end. It was as if they felt tired of writing about the people and wanted to wrap up the mystery. This obviously lead to a truncated flow towards the last 20% of the book and the end leaves you really hanging. There's no real resolution with the human realationships that have been introduced but it doesn't give you the sense of hope that there will be a second book (but if there was a second book, I don't see how the authors could continue the story successfully).
The Rule of Four has a really intriguing premise, great characters, intellegently written. I would recommend this book to people who: a) can't resist knowing what all the hype is about, b) can stand the disapointing ending with regards to character relationships
It's worth a read but that old cliche comes into mind: Is it really better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all? That's how I felt after the last page of this novel.
Anyway, this is my own opinion, and obviously, I'm not any novelist or prize winner. And for those of you who want to know where I'm coming from, I also felt that The Da Vinci Code was disapointing. So if you loved that book, you might just disagree with my point of view.
Book Review: Striving after love in a dream
Summary: 5 Stars
You can read any half-dozen Amazon customer reviews and conclude that most people would not know good writing if they took it to bed.
This novel is well-written. The prose will surprise and delight those who pay attention.
It is NOT "The Da Vinci Code" (which statement entirely follows from the preceding sentence).
It is not a murder mystery (though there is a murder, and it is, indeed, a mystery).
Though it has been advertised as "the ultimate puzzle book" (not without some justification), it is not a book about solving a puzzle -- and here is where a lot of reviewers have stumbled: It is a book about WHY people solve puzzles; and it is about the sacrifices that sometimes have to be made in order to pursue one's devotion to a thing, whether the object is a puzzle, a work of art, or a person.
Some readers will want to march through a so-called puzzle book the same way a porn addict detests things like plot, characters, or story, which all only get in the way of the "action." This book is not puzzle-porn. This book is about people; it is about interesting people, in interesting situations, making interesting choices, solving an interesting mystery. In the same way that life tends to provide contexts that bring people together, sometimes whether they like it or not, the people in this novel are brought together (or kept apart) by their several connections with the story's MacGuffin: an infamously difficult piece of printed history named "Hypnerotomachia Poliphili," dubbed "the last great unsolved mystery of the Renaissance" (a real book, by the way, written in the 1400s).
Hint: If you don't know what a "MacGuffin" is, and you are too lazy a reader to go look it up in Wikipedia, then you will not enjoy "Rule of Four." Stick to Dan Brown.
Book Review: DaVinci Code Redux or Crypto Schlypto?
Summary: 3 Stars
What a heady joy it must be to come of age in the Neverland that is Princeton. Its rituals are inspired, its traditions strong, and its graduates well paid and highly in demand. Lest you wonder, high pay is because they are clever. And if you have any question about how clever they are, just read about the (fictional) puzzle they solve here.
And if one reads the story this way, it's a 'junk novel', 'pulp fiction.' A two star book. A book about a couple guys who spend too much time in steam tunnels and too much time solving five hundred year old riddles and not enough time feasting at the table of upper-crustiness that the institution sets for them.
Inside this wrapper is a story set at the cusp between the Renaissance and the Reformation. A Renaissance pulpit-pounder makes it his task to reform wayward Florence, burning its humanistic relics in a 'bonfire of the vanities.' And a rich aristocrat defies him. Though its ( partly fictional) details are sketched out at the climax of the book, it constitutes too little of the story to completely redeem the book.
Scattered through the book is a third story. This one is about obsession. Most superhuman efforts and great achievements are the result of obsession. And even when obsession causes relations between loved ones to languish, sometimes our obsessions give us what we need most, a sort of raison d'etre. Still, to the question of obsession the book brings more heat than light.
In the end it is hard to see the book as much more than a coming-of-age story. Two students' sheer obsession provides the impulse power for them to gnaw through the multi-layered cryptographic tricks played by a Renaissance author. They reveal a message that we remain unconvinced is worth the effort. Theirs or ours.
Book Review: Dull, Drab and Awful
Summary: 1 Stars
Dull, Drab and Awful
This was a good idea for a book, but it was very poorly written. The effect of this unfortunate combination is a boring book not worth the trouble of reading. I wish that I would have done what others reviews did and stopped after 50 pages.
There are insipid chase scenes devoid of suspense; feigned scholarly discussions that are lacking insight or purpose and a pointless central mystery plot with no hint of cleverness. The characters are shallow, dull, uninteresting, boring, lifeless and just plain drab and awful. While in some professions these attributes might be considered an asset; in a modern mystery novel they are in fact a real detriment. None of the principal players are at all interesting. The four main characters are not at all likeable and I couldn't sympathize with any of them on any level. Count yourself as lucky if you have none of these manikins for friends.
The historic references to the "Hypnerotomachia Poliphili" are the only bright spots in this pathetic waste of a book. The reader will have to force himself through a sluggish plot with boring characters and a slow pace to learn a little about this renaissance love story. There is a modern translation of the original book in question. I wish that I would have read the modern English translation of the "Hypnerotomachia Poliphili" (see: Hypnerotomachia Poliphili: The Strife of Love in a Dream) and never heard of "The Rule of Four".
I have the feeling that "The Rule of Four" is for an early adolescent audience while the serious books are left for the grown-ups.
There is no positive side. Avoid this book like a pot hole in the road.
Book Review: Dull, Drab and Awful
Summary: 1 Stars
Dull, Drab and Awful
This was a good idea for a book, but it was very poorly written. The effect of this unfortunate combination is a boring book not worth the trouble of reading. I wish that I would have done what others reviews did and stopped after 50 pages.
There are insipid chase scenes devoid of suspense; feigned scholarly discussions that are lacking insight or purpose and a pointless central mystery plot with no hint of cleverness. The characters are shallow, dull, uninteresting, boring, lifeless and just plain drab and awful. While in some professions these attributes might be considered an asset; in a modern mystery novel they are in fact a real detriment. None of the principal players are at all interesting. The four main characters are not at all likeable and I couldn't sympathize with any of them on any level. Count yourself as lucky if you have none of these manikins for friends.
The historic references to the "Hypnerotomachia Poliphili" are the only bright spots in this pathetic waste of a book. The reader will have to force himself through a sluggish plot with boring characters and a slow pace to learn a little about this renaissance love story. There is a modern translation of the original book in question. I wish that I would have read the modern English translation of the "Hypnerotomachia Poliphili" (see: Hypnerotomachia Poliphili: The Strife of Love in a Dream) and never heard of "The Rule of Four".
I have the feeling that "The Rule of Four" is for an early adolescent audience while the serious books are left for the grown-ups.
There is no positive side. Avoid this book like a pot hole in the road.